Thursday, September 27, 2012

Contractualization slammed in “Global Day of Action”

Press
Release

September
27, 2012

PALEA

Nationwide
rallies denounced contractualization as labor groups in the Philippines marked
the “Global Day of Action against Outsourcing.” Meanwhile airline unions and
other workers abroad held protests spanning four continents in an expression of
global resistance to outsourcing. “Actions by
workers, on the same day, in a coordinated way, all over the world, gives the
struggle against outsourcing strength and effectivity,” declared Gerry Rivera,
president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA) and vice chair
of Partido ng Manggagawa (PM).

Some
1,000 members of PALEA and the labor coalition Nagkaisa staged a rally at
Mendiola this morning. This was followed by a motorcade to
the PALEA protest camp for an afternoon mass meeting. Mobilizations were also
in Cebu at the PALEA picketline near the Mactan International Airport this
morning and in Davao at the Buhangin underpass this afternoon.

Aside
from commemorating the anniversary of PALEA’s protest against outsourcing last
year, the protests also pushed for the passage of the security of tenure bill
pending at Congress. “Aside from the reproductive health and
freedom of information bills, the security of tenure measure is also jammed at
the legislative mill. This social reform proposal seeks to restrict the epidemic
of contractual work and the proliferation of 6 months endo jobs,” explained
Rene Magtubo, PM national chair.

A
picket the House of Representatives is planned for October 8 to call for the
plenary discussion of the security of tenure bill. The House Labor Committee
has reported out a consolidated version of the bill but the Committee on Rules
has not scheduled it for sponsorship and interpellation at the plenary level.

The “Global Day of Action” was spearheaded by PALEA, the
Turkish civil aviation union Hava-Is, Qantas unions, the Lufthansa flight
attendants union UFO, Canadian airline workers union CAW-TCA, Air India unions,
UNITE-HERE in the USA and the Australia Asia Worker Links. Rallies,
leafleteering, mass meetings and other protest actions at airports were held in
Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, Istanbul in Turkey, Frankfurt in Germany,
Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg and Saint John in Canada, Mumbai in
India and Honolulu in Hawaii. Solidarity messages have also been extended by
labor centers and unions in Hong Kong, Seoul, Hanoi and San Francisco.The day of action was several months in the
making with the International Transport Workers Federation starting the ball
rolling by endorsing it in a meeting of the Asia-Pacific civil aviation section
meeting in Kuala Lumpur last July.

Similar
to PALEA, the groups participating in the day of action are embroiled in labor
rows over job security and working conditions. Hava-Is is demanding the
reinstatement of 305 members dismissed over protests against a controversial government
ban on strikes in the aviation industry. Qantas management grounded its entire
fleet last year in response to rolling strikes by its pilots and ground crew.

UFO
recently won substantial concessions including limits to outsourcing after a
strike that disrupted Lufthansa’s flights. CAW-TCA and other Air Canada unions
were involved in disputes over pay and outsourcing, just like Air India workers.
The hotel workers union UNITE-HERE is campaigning for a boycott of the global
hotel chain Hyatt over a host of issues including use of contract labor.

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